Artemis In America
by Zenith Storm
Summary: After Artemis returns from Hybras, his parents send him to an American Public school to "make friends". There he has to deal with everything in your average high school. Rated T for innuendos, and possibly language.
1. Public School!

A/N: If you've read Return To Haven, Chaper 4 has been changed sligthly

_**A/N**_**: If you've read Return To Haven, Chaper 4 has been changed sligthly. I have to put it on Hiatus for an indefinite amount of time, so don't expect it to pop up again anytime soon.**

**Disclaimer: Eion Colfer is Famous. I am not. He gets the credit for Arty and Crew while I get the credit for this plot and the many OCs that you'll find after this chapter.**

_**Public School?!**_

"Artemis, dinner is served in 15 minutes."

"Thank you, Juliet. I'll come down in ten." Artemis turned back to his computer. In the five days since he'd returned from Hybras, he had either been catching up with his family and Minerva or briefing himself on what had happened during his absence. _Three Years! _Since he had changed his birth certificate to reflect his age when he'd left, Artemis's "education" would soon be arranged for the upcoming school year. It was beyond him why his parents, especially his mother, thought he was lacking in knowledge. Perhaps, but certainly not at a high school level. The only major breakthroughs were in nano-technology, which Artemis had already gone over. Glancing at the clock, Artemis realized he'd just spent 8 minutes brooding. He stood up and readjusted his Armani suit. Then he walked down to the dining room.

"Arty, dear, what have you been doing?" Angeline Fowl had become even more happy and maternal with the birth of Myles and Beckett. Artemis picked Myles up and gave his mother a peck on the cheek. He, however, didn't mean it. Artemis merely filled the role expected of him.

"Updating myself on global events. It astonishes me that Spiro was released. They caught him in the very act of a break in."

Artemis Fowl Sr. joined the conversation. "Spiro had parole for good behavior. The fact he puts on an extremely amiable front must help, too. Which brings us to our main discussion this evening." Artemis Sr. looked at his wife.

Angeline squirmed. "Arty, we realize that during Timmy's absence I was far from being the ideal mother. While your intelligence is obviously unhurt, you're extremely solitary."

"Mother, I enjoy being solitary. There is nothing to apologize about."

Angeline gave a sad smile. "That's what worries us. Any teenager, boy or girl, jock or nerd, has friends. Adolescents are very social. Yet your only friend is Minerva. While she is a nice and intelligent girl, she has many friends who are bound to occupy her time."

"I have friends," Artemis looked insulted, "Butler, Juliet, Giovanni Zito, and several other scientists."

"None of which, not even Juliet, are your age." Artemis Sr. observed. "We don't want you to be an antisocial adult. Schools are excellent places to make friends. Obviously, St. Bartleby's is out of the picture."

"So you want me to go to one of the local schools." Artemis stated.

Angeline shook her head. "As far as Dublin's concerned, you're still missing. We're going to use your cryogenic experiments as the official reason for your disappearance. But we have to wait until after the Cryogenic Conference in April."

"You're going to attend public school in America." Artemis Sr. explained.

Artemis was shocked. He knew St. Bartleby's was an impossibility, but he hadn't realized all of Ireland was, too. And a public _American _school was just insulting. "Do you already have a school picked out?"

"Jefferson High School," Angeline said happily. "Along with their local students, the top 1 in the district goes there for the IB and AP programs. It's in Portland, Oregon. You're leaving in two weeks."

Sighing, Artemis resigned himself to a school undoubtedly filled with idiots. "Where will I live?"

"One of the student's family hosts international students. Despite the short notice, they're more than happy to have you. The eldest daughter, Julie, has agreed to introduce you to her friends and show you around the school. She told us that all you'll need is a small pack to tide you over until she can get a male friend to go shopping with you." Artemis Sr. informed him. "And they recommend you bring a laptop. Apparently the family computer is disputed territory.

"Hey Artemis, what's up?" Holly asked.

"Above me is a ceiling and above you is a few thousand tons of dead dinos." Artemis responded. The talk with his parents had put him in a bad mood.

"Wow, I didn't already know that." Holly replied sarcastically. "But seriously, you're in a foul mood. What happened?"

"My parents are planning to ship me off to an American public school!" Artemis shouted.

In Haven, Holly winced. "Not so loud. You practically blew out my eardrums. But still, public schools harsh. Any reason why?"

"For some reason they think I need to make more friends."

Holly laughed. "If that's the case, I support them!"

"You don't have to laugh," Artemis muttered sullenly.

"I'm sorry." She apologized. "But I agree with your parents. You really do need to make friends. Where is it? I'll stop in now and then to help you out."

"Jefferson High School in Portland, Oregon." Artemis replied.

"Hmm. I've never been there, but I think Trouble has. Whatever. I promise to drop in. I better get off. Foaly looks like he's going to murder me for stealing his carrots." Holly hung up.

"Was that Holly?" Juliet stood in the doorway.

"Yes. What are you doing here?" Artemis snapped.

"Woah, easy there. I just came up to see how you were taking the news. If it's any help, Julie's a cool girl. I actually know her neighbor Jennifer from a fencing tournament. Jenny used to be a lot like you."

"Used to?" Artemis asked.

Juliet smiled. "She used to be America's greatest introvert. Then she joined a band. She's been social ever since. Just don't cross her. Neither Butler or I are going to deal with her if she hurts you. Emotionally or physically."

Artemis scoffed. "And how could she hurt me emotionally? It's highly unlikely I would develop a crush on her."

Juliet laughed. "You wouldn't." She assured him. "But she, and her friends, have extremely sharp tongues and absolutely no qualms about bashing someone into the ground, if they're provoked. She might be a better choice for showing you the school. She has a wider range of friends and knows more than just the school gossip."

"So she's a miniature you?" Artemis tried to picture this Jennifer.

"Not really. Only when she's provoked. But she's fairly calm."

"And you know this how? You only met her at a fencing tournament."

Juliet sighed. "We kept in contact. She tells me what happens at her school and I tell her what happened wrestling."

"Will I meet her?" Artemis asked. _When is this conversation going to be over?_

Juliet smiled. "You'll probably have classes with her. For some insane reason she's doing both IB and AP classes. It's amazing she gets all that work done. I better let you go. Butler's planning on using these weeks to teach you self-defense."

Artemis groaned. "Oh joy."

"See, you already know an American expression."

**And cut. What do you think? I actually don't know if 'Oh Joy' is a common expression. I just use it a ton in that kind of situation. As of the next chapter I want you to tell me if **

**1) You want romance**

**2) Who should be paired with whom. Though you might want to wait a bit.** **There is one couple I will under no circumstances change. You're going to see a lot of High School Politics and you will at least hear of some romance between OCs.**


	2. Meeting America

A/N Thank You pooja dagli and Shadow 6743

**A/N Thank You pooja dagli and Shadow 6743!**

**Yes, I've decided to add romance. As I said before, there's one pair I absolutely refuse to change and two pairings I refuse to make.**

**Disclaimer: I own a computer, I do not own Artemis Fowl. Or Northwest Airlines, iPods, or any of the shops mentioned.**

**Invigoration, is a band I made up. So is the quatrain identified as their lyrics. If those lyrics or that band exist, I thought I was being original.**

_**Meeting America**_

"Thank you for Northwest Airlines. I hope you enjoy your stay in Portland." The speaker announced.

Juliet got up and stretched. "Come on Artemis. Let's go meet the Bonnermans. I have to get on a flight back to New York in 2 hours."

"Remind me why we didn't do layover in New York instead of catching a red eye? Or even just taken the Leer." Artemis groaned. On top of becoming extremely sore from Butler's training, he had just slept on a turbulent plane. To sum it up, Artemis was in a foul mood.

"Because Julie wants you there for at least a week. And I'm not returning to Ireland."

"Exactly a week? Surely she could have just six days."

Juliet sighed. "I feel so sorry for Julie. She's gonna have a lot on her hands. Just keep your smart alec tongue in check and you'll be fine."

"What is it with the name calling?" Artemis asked as he followed her out of the plane. "In the past week you've called me elitist, spoilt brat, insensitive, nerd, smart alec, and a jerk."

"You need to get used to name calling." Juliet answered. Without looking to see if Artemis was keeping up, she strode into the crowd of Portland International Airport.

Artemis shook his head and started after her.

"Mrs. Bonnerman said to meet them at the food court. Let's grab some food, then go looking for them." Juliet led him to another wing of the airport. After ordering sushi, they scanned the court.

"Hey, are you Artemis and Juliet?" Someone asked them. Artemis turned to face the speaker.

"Julie Bonnerman, I presume?" He extended his hand. She ignored it. Julie had straight, mousy brown hair and blue eyes. She had a bit too much makeup on and was wearing a shirt that proudly proclaimed itself to be Hollister.

"That's me." Julie said cheerfully. "My family's over there." She pointed. Artemis and Juliet followed her to a table.

"Hi, I'm Julie's mom, Beatrice. This is my other daughter, Amber." Beatrice Bonnerman was darker haired, but still obviously European.

"You're from Ireland?" Amber asked. She had dirty blonde hair and a gymnast's build. She looked to be eleven.

"Yes, I'm from Ireland. It's a pleasure to meet you Amber." Again, his outstretched hand was ignored.

Amber smiled. "Ireland's cool. Home of leprechauns and all."

Artemis almost choked. This girl had no clue how right she was. Thankfully no one noticed except Juliet.

Beatrice looked at her watch. "There's a huge line at security, so you might want to leave Juliet. We'll call Angeline and Artemis Sr. When we get home." Artemis suddenly didn't want Juliet to leave. She was his last link to his past. _Please let Holly drop in soon, _he thought.

"I'll see you in June, Juliet." Artemis resisted the impulse to hug his long time companion.

"See you then. Take care of yourself, Arty." Juliet had no qualms about giving Artemis a Butler bear hug. By the time he regained his breath, Juliet had disappeared.

"Mom, are we going to pick Jenny up from the zoo?" For the first time since they left the airport, Julie, wasn't listening to her iPod.

"Don't you remember? She took this week off so she could get ready for school. Has she dropped her IB classes?" Beatrice asked.

Julie thought for a second. "I think so. She was really busy last year. And in 8th grade. She wants to devote more time to fencing, swimming, and the band."

"Like Derek dropping ballet?"

"I guess. Makes sense. Those two are in the same band. The core of Invigoration is really tight." Julie answered.

"So that's the name of their band. I thought it was Renaissance." Amber cut in.

Julie laughed. "No, the permanent players were in the music guild at the Renaissance Faire. Other kids come and go, but Jenny, Derek, Kyle and Jake are the core of the band." She grimaced. Artemis noticed that Julie's voice was slightly hostile until she started talking about all of Invigoration. _Did she like her neighbor?_

Beatrice caught a look of Artemis's confused face. "Julie, would you explain all this to Artemis?"

"Whoops. Jenny Zaler is my neighbor. She's extremely smart, a good fencer, strong swimmer, and talented musician. She wants to be a zoologist, so she works at the zoo during the summer. Derek is a musical prodigy. Like Jenny, he's a good student. He's also an excellent dancer. Kyle is Derek's best friend. He's the drummer in their band. Not as smart as the rest, but he's cool. Flirts with girls. So does Jake. Jake is debatably Jenny's best friend. He's definitely her best guy friend. Good at languages. He plays the string instruments in their band. According to Jenny, he's a good swimmer, but he hates the sport." Again, there was a bitter note to Julie's voice. As they turned off the arterial they were on, Julie pointed to a green house. "That's where Jenny lives." While not grand, it was certainly the largest in the neighborhood. Artemis picked up signs that it had been remodeled recently. He guessed that it probably been one of the smallest houses before. As they passed the house, he saw someone on the balcony.

"Who's that?" Artemis pointed to the figure.

"Either Jenny or Madison. Probably Jenny she loves reading and writing outside." Julie replied non-committal.

It was official. Something was up between this Jenny Juliet spoke highly of and his acquaintance Julie.

Jenny was relaxing on the balcony. She was trying to get some ideas for her new poetry anthology, _New Beginnings._ It probably wasn't the best season if she wanted to focus on nature, but Jenny had decided to focus, yet again, on humans. She watched the two girls playing in the yard opposite hers. She felt sorry for them. Their step mom had cared more about the three dogs than her husband's children. Perhaps it was a good thing they had split up. The youngest daughter, Maddie, saw her and waved. Jenny grinned. She loved those two. It was great that their dad had gotten primary custody, and she was their regular babysitter. She noticed the Bonnermans' station wagon. _Oh right, the international student is coming today. _As it passed by, Jenny caught a glimpse of raven black hair.

"Did you sleep well?" Julie asked.

"I should. I've done nothing but sleep for the past twenty four hours." Artemis grumbled.

"Jet lag. I've managed to get my friend William to agree to take you shopping for clothes and school supplies. He should be here soon. He's lending you some clothes so you won't go to the mall in an Armani suit. Oh, he's here." Julie hurried to the door.

"So you're the new student. I'm William Lan," For the first time, someone else extended their hand.

Artemis shook it. "Artemis Fowl the II." William was tall, around 5'7". He was Oriental. His hair was spiked with a spiky bang going across his left eye, which was dyed red.

William looked at Julie. "Kathy and Hope invited you to go to the salon with them. Artemis and I should be back around five."

William led Artemis up the hill to the metro stop. "Jenny is one lucky girl. The metro's practically on her doorstep."

"But wouldn't that mean she's at greater risk for burglary?" Artemis asked.

William shrugged, "Not really. Ms. Whirly knows everything on this street and they have alarms."

"You're the first person to speak positively about Jenny since I got here. Do you know why Julie dislikes her?" Artemis reminded himself not to mention Juliet. She'd asked him not to talk about her.

William looked at him like he was seeing him in a different light. "So you've noticed already. Julie took Jenny under her wing when she moved here. After she joined Invigoration, she became fairly independent. Jenny didn't like some of the things Julie would talk about, and started arguing with her. They're friendly, but not friends. It's actually a lot more complicated than that, but it isn't my place to tell you." As the metro pulled up William motioned for Artemis to board first. After they got settled, William pulled out his iPod. He handed Artemis one of the earbuds and scrolled through his songs. Smiling, William pushed play at a song. Artemis listened.

_You act like nothings happened_

_You leave me in the dirt_

_I watch broken and betrayed,_

_As you play with your new girl._

"That's a nice song. Not my style, but still good. Who's the artist?" Artemis asked.

William smiled. "Invigoration. That's Jenny singing. Kind of ironic. She hasn't dated anyone. But one of her good friends wrote that from experience and asked her to sing it. Jenny doesn't write a lot of songs. Usually Derek writes them and they work together to add words."

Artemis nodded. "She has a nice voice. When do you think I'll meet her?"

William shrugged. "Start of school probably. Jenny isn't in the neighborhood much. When she is, she's at home. I know I'm sounding like another neighbor. Just to be clear, I'm not. I'm a friend of both Jenny and Julie. I do the cover art for Invigoration's few CDs. I'm kind of like their manager. So I get to know each person's schedule."

Artemis nodded. They remained silent for the rest of the bus ride, listening to Invigoration. They did a mix of vocal and instrumental pieces, and spanned several genres.

"Okay, why don't why get school supplies first? That'll give me a chance to figure out what stores we should visit." William and Artemis started walking to Office Depot.

"Let's see. You're probably going to want binders with shoulder straps. You might want to pick a different color for every subject." William gestured to the shelf of binders.

"How many classes do we have?" Artemis asked.

"Eight per semester. We change it up the second semester, but you can reuse binders." William watched as Artemis proceeded to choose black, gray, green, blue, khaki, dark brown, white, and red binders. He did the same thing with folders, notebooks, post-its™, and pencil pouches. He chose a black backpack and black pens. Artemis also purchased a USB memory stick.

"Well, you're obviously into neutral things." William commented as they bought the supplies.

"Neutral works with everything." Artemis replied stiffly. William was just a bit too loud and immature for his taste.

"I think we should try Abercrombie and Fitch, maybe American Eagle. They can be fairly neutral, but they're name brands so you won't be considered a total nerd." William himself was wearing an Abercrombie and Fitch shirt right then.

"Why should I care if I'm called a nerd?" Artemis asked.

"You'll get your head stuffed in a toilet," William replied cheerfully. He looked over at Artemis and quickly added, "But only if you aren't friends with some popular kids. Like Paul. If he wasn't close friends with Jenny, he'd be the perfect victim for bullies. You definitely have Julie's and Kathy's protection, and probably Jenny's too. Jenny and Kathy mean the most. Kathy's one of the most popular girls in our grade thanks to her dating history. Jenny doesn't take any crap from bullies. She'll report them, reprimand them, or beat them up."

"What if the bullies are bigger than her?" Artemis asked.

"She'll report them. A lot of the boys are smaller than her, though. At the start of the year, she beats up anyone who bullies or hits on her. The Admins don't discipline her because it's the most effective bully deterrent ever. They actually like her a lot." A girl with blood red hair sidled up to them.

William grinned at her. "Hey Ardea. Artemis, this is Ardea Storm. She's one of Jenny's best friends, and her partner in crime."

Ardea laughed. "You're making both of us sound violent." She looked over at Artemis. "Pleased to meet you. William here's a good friend of mine. Jenny's actually really sweet. She has really high morals, too. Most kids don't mess with her though. The fact she's stronger than most boys is a pretty big warning. Oh, and this time she's going the entire first week. She thinks this'll reinforce the idea better than just the one day."

William nodded. "Especially at the end of the year. The seniors get out of hand. I think she gave five of them black eyes. Seven came out of her scolding sessions in tears and eight were reported."

"The only reason she gave those boys black eyes was because she found their girlfriends crying. You know how much of a feminist she can be." Ardea responded.

"Everyone I've met so far has something to say about Jenny. Could you describe some of your other classmates?" Artemis asked.

Ardea smiled. "Sure. Has anyone warned you about Lasagna?"

"Is it highly poisonous?" Artemis asked suspiciously.

William laughed, "Lasagna is a who not a what. Sean La goes by the name Lasagna. He thinks he's a toucan. He's also a major, if terrible, flirt. But you have to love him."

Ardea disagreed. "He's crazy, but he tries to hard to be everyone's friend. Remember the time he spent a week saying nothing but chicken butt?"

William winced, "I remember that. The sooner we knock some sense into him, the better."

"There's also Lizzy. Everyone needs to be warned about Lizzy," Ardea added.

William raised an eyebrow. "I thought she's your friend."

"She is, but she's even crazier than Lasagna. Are you guys going to Hollister?" Ardea asked.

Artemis shook his head, "Apparently, American Eagle and Abercrombie and Fitch."

Ardea shrugged. "Makes sense. Your personality isn't surfer like Hollister. I'll see you two in a couple of days." With that, she headed into a shop.

"You have now met Ardea Storm. Skater, mislabeled emo, and an artist." William commented.

"If everyone's like this, you've got one convoluted school." Artemis observed.

William grinned. "You have no idea."

**Okay, what do you think? When they're talking about knocking some sense into Lasagna, that'll be explained in the next chapter. But Lasagna and his girlfriend-to-be are the couple I refuse to change.**

**When I replied to pooja dagli, I said there would be three prodigies besides Artemis. One of them, Derek, is already mentioned. You might notice that there's a lot of mentions of Jenny Zaler. She's the big mystery girl for this chapter. You're actually going to get a huge dose of High school politics just between Julie and Jenny. Basically, Julie and Jenny are going to get into an argument about who takes care of Artemis. From who I've mentioned so far, what pairs should there be?**


	3. Hiho, Hiho, It's Off to School

Thank you again Pooja Dagli

**Thank you again Pooja Dagli! I realize that I'm making Jenny sound like a prodigy. She isn't, intentionally. While very intelligent, she's just extremely well rounded. Everyone is free to tell me if I'm making her a MarySue**

**Chaos0Marine: I'm not going to have Julie and Jenny fight to see who gets to date Artemis. Julie has a boyfriend already and Jenny isn't really interested in dating.**

**Disclaimer: My name is not Eion Colfer, therefore, I cannot own Artemis Fowl. I do however own all the OCs and this plot.**

_**Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, It's Off To School We Go**_

An annoying buzzing noise jarred Artemis awake. He rolled over and hit the snooze button. Unfortunately, Julie charged in.

"Artemis, get your lazy butt out of bed. We need to get ready for school!" Julie exclaimed. She'd already taken a shower and was fully dressed. Just from the week he'd spent living there, Artemis knew that Julie did her hair and makeup in the same time it took him to get showered and dressed. When he came upstairs for breakfast, Amber had a slight green tinge to her face.

"Are you sick Amber?" Artemis asked.

"N-no, just nervous, it's my first day of middle school." She looked absolutely terrified.

Artemis smiled. "It won't be so bad. Think of the absolute worst thing that could happen, and prepare for it. Then it'll either turn out the way you thought and you'll be ready, or it'll be much easier."

Amber scrunched up her face as she thought about it. "That doesn't make sense, but I'll take your word for it."

"You do that," Julie informed her sister. She had an attitude that Artemis hadn't seen before, one of utter control, pride, inner knowledge. _She's in her element, _Artemis realized. She turned to Artemis, "Are you ready for the perils of Jefferson High?" A smile touched her lips.

"As ready as one can be, considering Murphy's Law." He replied.

Julie shook her head. "You're so serious. Amber is leaving half an hour after us. As soon as we finish breakfast, we're should get up to the bus stop."

Artemis and Julie walked to the top of the hill. Already at the bus stop was another girl. As they got closer, Artemis saw her black hair and tanned skin. She was about the same height as William. She didn't see them until Julie went to see what song she was listening to.

"Coldplay? Really Jenny, you should get a better taste in music." Julie shook her head.

Jenny raised her eyebrows. "My taste is fine, thank you. And you might like Alternative music if you gave it a chance."

Julie laughed. "I think not. If I remember correctly, I recommended Death Cab for Cutie. You expanded."

"Actually, Derek was the one who introduced me to Alternative. Remember the Promotion? We played 'Clocks', by Coldplay. Who's your friend?" Jenny looked over at Artemis.

"This is Artemis Fowl, from Ireland. His family had a brush with the Russian Mafia." Julie proudly proclaimed.

Jenny nodded, "I heard about that on the news four years ago. Did you live in Dublin?"

"Farther out, actually." Artemis found this girl more intense than Julie was.

"Cool. I don't like suburbs myself, but I'm assuming your family owns a lot of land." Jenny flashed a smile.

"Are we taking the same route we did last year? Or did they screw up the schedule again?" Julie demanded.

Jenny laughed. "They did screw up the schedule, but our route isn't changing. All the Jefferson kids in the north will end up on our bus."

"Cool." Julie's eyes told a different story. Thankfully, the bus pulled up then. Artemis followed Julie to the back of the bus. Jenny sat down in the middle and promptly began talking with one of the guys sitting there.

"Artemis, I'd like you to meet Kathy Maloney. She works a lot in the modeling business." Artemis glanced at her. She seemed like the typical fifteen year-old girl, with the exception of her blue highlights.

"'Sup. I see you've met Jenny. The boy she's talking to is Paul Sanders. He's a total nerd. He spends all his free time writing computer programs." Kathy smirked. She had the same attitude as Julie, except much more concentrated. She was obviously the same Kathy William had mentioned.

As they progressed toward Jefferson, Artemis noticed something. Those who had instruments or sport bags with them would sit and talk with Jenny. Those wearing name brands would sit Kathy and Julie. However, a lot of Kathy and Julie's friends seemed to love gossiping, even if the subject of gossip was sitting right next to them.

"Oh, my gosh. Did you hear? Apparently the new student is like a millionaire." Roxanne Bival gushed.

"I heard that too. Did you know that he had to come here because he was kicked out of every school in his country?" Isabelle Carter stage whispered.

"Well it's not that surprising. I mean look at him. Total Punk. And the Soviet Union isn't exactly a big country either." Roxanne replied. Artemis felt sick. Kathy and Julie listened with amusement, but made no move to correct the girls. Suddenly, Jenny walked over to them.

"Okay, enough spreading rumors about Artemis. And actually Roxanne, _Russia_ is the largest country in the world. The Soviet Union doesn't exist any more." She looked over at Artemis, "Why don't you come talk with my friends and I?"

"Sure. Anything to get away from those two." Artemis followed her to her group.

"Okay everyone, this is Artemis Fowl from Ireland. He's living with Julie. As you might have just heard, there's a rumor that he's been kicked out of every school in the Soviet Union. Artemis, these are my friends Paul Sanders, Jake Nooke, Diana Lopez, Brett Veen, and Jaida Minele." She pointed each one out as she said their name.

"Welcome to Jefferson. What do you think we should do about the overcrowded prisons?" Paul asked.

Artemis was shocked at the difference between the two groups. "I haven't paid attention to American Issues until recently. I'll give you my opinion when I know more.

"We should definitely impose the death sentence more," Jaida said.

"Is it our right to decide when someone dies? We should have more rehab centers. The celebs go there instead of prison, why shouldn't ordinary people have that same option?" Diana asked.

"Because the celebs contribute so much more to society. It's a guarantee they'll turn around." Brett drawled sarcastically.

"How do we know that the people in prison wouldn't be productive? It's not like we give them a chance."

"I agree with Diana. I know several ex-inmates who're quite productive now." Jake looked over at Artemis. "As you can see, we don't necessarily agree on everything.

"But that'll give options for compromise," A new girl pointed out. "What are the opinions so far?"

Jenny grinned. "Hey Olivia Kei. This is Artemis Fowl. So far we've mentioned more death sentences, and rehab centers. Now we're discussing the inequality between celebs and the working class."

Olivia thought for a second. "One, we're almost at Jefferson so we should continue this tomorrow. Two, we should increase the number of death sentences for murder, assault, and rape, but add rehab centers for substance abuse charges. We might also consider building a few more prisons."

The others nodded. It seemed like a cool compromise. As they left the bus, Artemis fell back to where Julie was.

"Did they bore you to death talking about how many digits of Pi they memorized over the summer?" She asked.

"No, they were talking about ways to alleviate overcrowding in prisons." He replied.

Julie gave him a blank stare. "Just don't arrest as many people." She suggested.

"Somehow, I doubt it's that simple. I'll help Artemis with his schedule. Give your friends time to stop gossiping." William said. He grinned at Artemis. "Have a nice ride?"

"Not until Jenny saved me from hearing Roxanne and Isabelle talk about how I've been kicked out of every school in the Soviet Union." Artemis responded.

William laughed. "I heard that one. Except you were from Norway. Roxanne's a gossip. So's everyone in her crew. Kathy and Julie only hang out with them because they figure they'll hear about everything. Sorry I couldn't ride your bus, I live on the east side. You met Jenny. What do you think?" He started walking toward the doors of Jefferson.

"She's interesting. Her friends were discussing ways to alleviate prison overcrowding."

"That's one of their favorite debates. That, the environment, and politics are their most controversial debates. I join in now and then, but it can get confusing. When they get excited, every single one of them starts switching languages around."

"Can they understand one another?" Artemis asked.

"Oh, yeah. They'll all switch between Spanish, Japanese, and French for group discussions. But Invigoration also speak to each other in Egyptian and Korean. Olivia and Diana have private conversations in Vietnamese. Jaida Minele is the only one not to speak more than the regular four languages."

"Are there anyone else in that group?"

"I'll introduce you to the boys right now." William led him to a group standing over to the side. "Oy! Kyle, Derek, Sean! You need to meet someone. This is Artemis Fowl. He's staying with Julie, and has already met Jenny."

"Ah, our favorite fencer girl. Has she driven you mad yet? I'm Kyle Adam, by the way." A Native American boy introduced himself.

"Why would she drive him mad? We drove her mad! I'm Sean La." Like William, Sean was a mix of all the oriental nations.

Another boy just shook his head. "I thought we resolved this two years ago. I'm Derek," He stuck out his hand.

Artemis shook it. "Pleased to meet you. Any reason why they're discussing the transmission of madness?"

Derek snorted. "Nice way of putting it. When Jenny joined Invigoration, the boys tried to chase her away by acting crazy, how we usually are. Instead, she adapted and became slightly kuku herself. The joke's always been you can't attend Franklin Middle and not be crazy. And you can't go here without missing a couple brain cells. Do you have your schedule yet?"

William answered. "Nope, have you?"

"No, but those two have. I think there's a conspiracy to make me late. Let's grab'em." They started walking to the gym.

"You're in the A-H line." Derek pointed. "We'll meet you outside the gym."

"Fine." Artemis walked to the line. Someone thought it was funny to trip him. He stumbled and ended up falling into a conversation.

"Hey!" One of the boys growled at him. "Just what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I think he was trying to push one of us." The other sneered. "Now we'll just have to teach him a lesson."

"Oh don't do that," a female voice behind them said. "Artemis is too hot to be given a black eye."

**Dundundun. Who's the girl who saves Artemis? Hint, it's not Jenny. Her last name is Zaler. But it's someone you've already met.**

**Please Review! And I'd like to thank all of you who've put me on your story alerts.**


End file.
